Physical and biogeochemical spatial scales of variability in the East Australian Current separation from shelf glider measurements

Amandine Schaeffer*, Moninya Roughan, Emlyn M Jones, Dana White

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

25 Citations (Scopus)
23 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

In contrast to physical processes, biogeochemical processes are inherently patchy in the ocean, which affects both the observational sampling strategy and the representativeness of sparse measurements in data assimilating models. In situ observations from multiple glider deployments are analysed to characterize spatial scales of variability in both physical and biogeochemical properties, using an empirical statistical model. We find that decorrelation ranges are strongly dependent on the balance between local dynamics and mesoscale forcing. The shortest horizontal (5-10km) and vertical (45m) decorrelation ranges are for chlorophyll fluorescence, whereas those variables that are a function of regional ocean and atmosphere dynamics (temperature and dissolved oxygen) result in anisotropic patterns with longer ranges along (28-37km) than across the shelf (8-19km). Variables affected by coastal processes (salinity and coloured dissolved organic matter) have an isotropic range similar to the baroclinic Rossby radius (10-15km).

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1967-1975
Number of pages9
JournalBiogeosciences
Volume13
Issue number6
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 31 Mar 2016
Externally publishedYes

Bibliographical note

Copyright the Author(s) 2016. Version archived for private and non-commercial use with the permission of the author/s and according to publisher conditions. For further rights please contact the publisher.

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